AP psych unit 10 & 11

Ap psych unit 10 & 11 personality and intelligence

Personality

Personality

an individual's characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting

Psychoanalysis

Freud's theory of personality that attributes thoughts and actions to unconscious motives and conflicts

Free association

a method of exploring the unconscious in which the person relaxes and says whatever comes to mind, no matter how trivial or embarrassing

Id

a reservoir of unconscious psychic energy that strives to satisfy basic sexual and aggressive drives, operates on the pleasure principle

Ego

the largely conscious, "executive" part of personality that mediates among the demands of the id, superego, and reality, operates on the reality principle

Superego

the part of personality that represents internalized ideals and provides standards for judgement (the conscience) and for future aspirations

Psychosexual stages of development

the childhood stages of development (oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital) during which, according to Freud, the id's pleasure-seeking energies focus on distinct erogenous zones

Oedepus and Electra complex

according to Freud, a boy's sexual desires toward his mother and feelings of jealousy and hatred for the rival father, and switched for girl’s sexual desires

Identification

the process by which children incorporate their parents' values into their developing superegos

Fixation

a lingering focus of pleasure-seeking energies at an earlier psychosexual stage, in which conflicts were unresolved

Defense mechanism

in psychoanalytic theory, the ego's protective methods of reducing anxiety by unconsciously distorting reality

Repression

the basic defense mechanism that banishes anxiety-arousing thoughts, feelings, and memories from consciousness

Psychodynamic theories (Neo-Freudians)

an approach that derives from the classical psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud but with modifications and revisions that typically emphasize social and interpersonal elements over biological instincts

Carl Jung

neo-freudian, placed less influence on social factors and agreed with Freud that the unconscious exerts a powerful influence, collective unconscoius

Alfred Adler

neo-frudian, believed that childhood social, not sexual, tensions are crucial for personality development, inferiority complex

Karen Horney

A neo-Freudian psychologist that criticized Freud, stated that personality is molded by current fears and impulses, rather than being determined solely by childhood experiences and instincts, neurotic trends; concept of "basic anxiety". Women did not have “penis envy”

Collective Unconsciousness

Carl Jung's concept of a shared, inherited reservoir of memory traces form our species' history

Archetypes

the universal, symbolic images that appear across cultures and in myths, stories, and arts

Inferiority

a term used to describe people who compensate for feelings of inferiority by acting ways that make them appear superior

Projective test

a personality test, such as the Rorschach or TAT, that provides ambiguous stimuli designed to trigger projection of one'es inner dynamics - Psychoanalytic

TAT test

a projective test in which people express their inner feelings and interests through the stories they make up about ambiguous scenes

Rorschach inkblot test

the most widely used projective test, a set of 10 inkblots, designed by Hermann Rorschach; seeks to identify people's inner feelings by analyzing their interpretations of the blots

Reliability

the extent to which a test yields consistent results

Validity

the extent to which the test actually assesses what it claims to assess

False consensus effect

the tendency to overestimate the extent to which others share our beliefs and behaviors

Terror-management theory

a theory of death-related anxiety; explores people' emotional and behavioral responses to reminders of their impending death

Humanism

view personality with a focus on the potential for healthy personal growth

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

biological and physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization

Self-actualization

one of the ultimate psychological needs that arises after basic physical and psychological needs are met self-esteem is achieved; the motivation to fulfill one's potential

Carl Rogers- Acorn analogy/metaphor/ simile

This acorn has the potential within it to become a mighty oak tree itself. Given the appropriate conditions, it will automatically grow and accomplish this outcome. People, like the acorn, also seek to continually grow in positive ways

Unconditional positive regard

an attitude of total acceptance toward another person

Self-concept

all our thoughts and feeling about ourselves, in answer to the question, "Who am I?"

Trait

a characteristic pattern of behavior or a disposition to feel and act, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports

Personality inventory

a questionnaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors; used to assess selected personality traits

MMPI

the most widely researched and clinically used of all personality tests. Originally developed to identify emotional disorders (still considered its most appropriate use), this test is now used for many other screening purposes

MBTI

a personality test that taps 4 characteristics and classifies people into 1 of 16 personality types

Empirically driven test

a test (such as the MMPI) developed by testing a pool of items and then selecting those that discriminate between groups

Factor analysis

A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlies one's total score

Big 5

Openness to experience which is artistic and imaginative
Conscientiousness which is efficient and organized
Extroversion which is active and assertive
Agreeableness which is appreciative and forgiving
Neuroticism which is anxious and self-pitying

Eysenck’s Personality Dimensions

extraversion vs introversion and emotional stability vs instability

Social-cognitive perspective of personality

personality is acquired behavior through environment

Bandura’s reciprocal determinism

the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment

Locus of control

external- chance or outside forces beyond one's personal control determine one's fate

internal- one controls one's own fate

Positive psychology

the scientific study of optimal human functioning; aims to discover and promote strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive

Self

assumed to be the center of personality, the organizer of our thoughts, feelings, and actions

Spotlight effect

overestimating others' noticing and evaluating our appearance, performance, and blunder (as if we presume a spotlight shine on us)

Self esteem

one's feelings of high or low self worth

Self efficacy

one's sense of competence and effectiveness

Self serving bias

a readiness to perceive oneself favorably

Narcissism

excessive self-love and self-absorption

Individualism

giving priority to one's own goals over group goals and defining one's identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications

Collectivism

giving priority to the goals of one's group (often one's extended family or work group) and defining one's identity accordingly

Biological approach to personality-genes and temperament

emphasizes the internal physiological and genetic factors that influence personality

regression

psychoanalytic defense mechanism in which an individual faced with anxiety retreats to a more infantile psychosexual stage, where some psychic energy remains fixated

reaction formation

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which the ego unconsciously switches unacceptable impulses into their opposites, Thus, people may express feelings that are opposite of their anxiety-arousing unconscious feelings

projection

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people disguise their own threatening impulses by attributing them to others

rationalization

psychoanalytic defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions

displacement

psychoanalytic defense mechanism that shifts sexual or aggressive impulses toward a more acceptable or less threatening object of person, as when redirecting anger toward a safer outlet

sublimation

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people re-channel their unacceptable impulses into socially approved activities

denial

psychoanalytic defense mechanism by which people refuse to believe or even to perceive painful realities

oral stage

(0-1) pleasure centers on the mouth-sucking, biting, and chewing

anal stage

(1-3) pleasure focuses on bowel and bladder elimination; coping with demands for control

phallic stage

(3-5 years)pleasure zone is the genitals; coping with incestuous fellings

latency stage

(5 to puberty) dormant sexual feelings

genital stage

(puberty on) maturation, sexual feeling towards others

trait perspective

an attempt to define personality as an individuals unique combination of durable dispositions and consistent ways of behaving

barnum effect

People tend to believe vague and general statements about their personality are highly accurate. E.g., horoscopes.

humanistic theory of personality

emphasizes individual potential for growth and self-actualization. It focuses on personal responsibility, free will, and the importance of the present moment.

Criticisms:

Critics argue that it lacks empirical evidence, is too subjective, ignores the impact of biology and unconscious processes, and is overly optimistic about human nature.

trait theory of personality

A theory that suggests personality is composed of a set of distinct traits that remain relatively stable over time and across situations.

Critics argues it oversimplifies human behavior, ignores situational factors, lacks universality, and doesn't account for personal growth or change.

intelligence

mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

intelligence test

a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores

Charles Spearman

proposed a general intelligence (g); helped develop factor analysis

general intelligence (g)

a general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test

factor analysis

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score

L. L. Thurstone

identified seven clusters of primary abilities

Howard Gardner

proposed eight distinct intelligences: naturalistic, linguistic, logical mathematical, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, body kinesthetic, and spatial

savant syndrome

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing

grit

in psychology, grit is passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals

Robert Sternberg

proposed a triarchic theory of three intelligences-analytical intelligence (academic problem solving), creative intelligence, and practical intelligence

emotional intelligence

the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

Francis Galton

believed intelligence was purely hereditary; developed a rudimentary intelligence test

Alfred Binet

developed the first modern intelligence test for the French school system measuring a child's mental age (Stanford-Binet); assumed intelligence increases with age

mental age

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance. thus, a child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8

Lewis Terman

revised Binet's test for use in the United States; conducted a longitudinal study of high intelligence children

Stanford-Binet

the widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet's original intelligence test

intelligence quotient (IQ)

defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ=ma/ca x 100). on contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100, with scores assigned to relative performance above or below average

achievement test

a test designed to assess what a person has learned

aptitude test

a test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn

David Wechsler

developed the wechsler adult intelligence scale (WAIS) and the Wechsler intelligence scale for children (WISC)

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

the WAIS is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests

standardization

defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group

normal curve

the symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes

content validity

the extent to which a test samples the behavior that is of interest

predictive validity

the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior (aka criterion-related validity)

cohort

a group of people from a given time period

crystallized intelligence

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age

fluid intelligence

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood

intellectual disability

a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life

Down syndrome

a condition of mild to severe intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21

heritability

the proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes. the heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied